Stuck in my yard....TWICE!! - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

dm22630 · 04-05-2009, 21:31

Well......today is by far one of the most disappointing days for army trucks that I can remember. It was bad enough when I got stuck in the woods behind my house, but today....I got stuck in my front yard, TWICE, with a M818 & M813! It took me all day to get out.

This morning I went down in my field to move the M872 from its current spot, to an area directly beside my driveway, since the new owner's shipper is coming to get it this week. Since someone stole my jack handle off of the M872 while it was still at Ft Meade, the guy I had bring it to my house apparently just unlatched it & pulled forward letting the trailer drop 10" onto the ground. When I pulled my M818 up to hook it up, the 818 was way too high, so my neighbor came over w/his tractor that has a bucket & we dug a 12" deep hole 8ft wide & 10ft long (so both rear axles could drop & get under the trailer. That did not work, what it did do though was get me buried up to my axles all the way around.

So.....I thought, oh well.....let me get my M813 & just pull it out. HA! I guess I shouldnt have tried to drive by it to get lined up, the same underground river that had filled up our freshly dug hole, had also soaked 1/2 my front field. As I was going by the 818, the 813 stopped & the front axle had sunk into the mud also.

By this time I was pissed, and needed a break so I went up to my garage & organized. Well, the more I thought about getting stuck in my own yard, the more pissed I got......So, I got 4 chains that were about 100 ft total in length & got ANOTHER 813, stupidly thinking that I could pull the other 813 out of the mud. That didnt happen, what did happen though was I almost got 3 trucks stuck.

More time went by, I got madder.

Then I pulled an 813 in front of the stuck 813 (about 100 ft between the two) & figured out how to use the winch......somewhat (keep reading). After continuous trial & error, I pulled the winch cable up the the other 813 & with my neighbors help, I winched myself out of the hole I was in. I then put the front 813 away, & was going to turn around & winch the 818 out. Weeeeeeeeeell.....if you put the winch in neutral & dont also push the control lever on the side of the winch in, then you will hear what I heard.....POP!!!. I thought "oh crap....what did I break now". Since I had slack in the cable, I had wrapped the extra around the front bumper & now that slack was super tight & the winch chain had luckily gotten locked around the front passenger side dring. That took a sledgehammer to get off. Now, the winch would not pull in, unspool, nothing.....after closer inspection, I found that I had broken my shear pin. Still, I dont know why I can unspool it freely by hand.

Anyway...

Since the next 2 days are calling for heavy rain, I thought that I really should get the 818 out while I still could. Well.....no winch = back to the chains. I hooked up the chains & got my 813 on dry(er) ground & tried to pull.....it moved maybe an inch forward....tried again....nothing. So....we hook another 813 in front of my 813.....then pull with both at the same time....this time it moved 6 inches. It is now almost dark, the rain is about to start soon.....I am more angry than ever. Finally we hooked one 813 to the drivers side dring & one 813 to the passenger side dring & it slowly came out. VICTORY!!!

I still dont know what I am going to do about the M872.....I guess I will have to get a track loader over here to move it.

Let me say this.....if scrap prices were as high right now as they were this time last year, EVERY truck here would be crushed tomorrow.

I will not buy another MV without a winch. I hate sprag, but with 5 tons, there is nothing that you can do about it. I HATE NDT tires! I hope 16.00-20s wont suck as bad as these did.

It was truely a pathetic display at my house today. I will not be going down any offroad trails anywhere, if I get stuck in my own yard.

Here are the pics.....